I'll Be Home For Christmas

I haven't been very good about blogging for the past week or so. I was sick for a few days and then this weekend we decided to get ourselves out of Beirut, partly to avoid the protests which were scheduled to begin on Friday and partly to get some Christmas shopping done. So we went to Damascus to hang out with Stephen and Mona, who once again were so good as to put us up in their SQ and also to play tour guides for us through the old city.

The Christmas season is officially upon us now. There were all sorts of fake Christmas trees, decorations and toys being sold in the market in Damascus, and there was even a very Rockefeller Center-esque giant (fake) tree in a square in front of a Catholic church. Here in Beirut, the ABC (that's the upscale version of The Bay here) has a floor that is devoted to Christmas.

To be absolutely honest the whole thing is depressing to me. I can see that the time is going by and that somehow it is now December, but it certainly doesn't look or feel like December or like Christmas to me. It's 20C outside. I cannot complain -- I hear that back home it is -40C with the windchill -- but Christmas will not be the same without winter and family.

That's why I am so happy to be going home for Christmas. Glenn and I will be flying out of Beirut on the 16th. Here are the dates of our Canadian Christmas Tour:

Ottawa - December 16th
Home (Edmonton/Riverview) - December 17th to 31st
Ottawa - December 31st to January 6th


Inhuman weather conditions notwithstanding, I cannot wait to get home to Canada. I have been thinking of all of the things that I want to do out there. Here is a short list of them:

1. Go to the movies and see the latest films -- it takes a while before the big North American films get out here, and the selection is rather random. I want to see The Departed, Stranger than Fiction, and anything else that might have been released since I have been gone. Can anyone tell me anything about this Borat movie that seems to be all the rage?

2. Go out for some kickin' Vietnamese food. They have most kinds of cuisine here, but I haven't found any pho'.

3. Buy books -- a lot of them! I have been going through books at near break-neck pace and I need to replenish the stack.

4. Play in the snow.

5. Drink beer... anything other than Almaza and Heineken, which seem to be the only 2 kinds that are common in Lebanon.

6. Poutine. Poutine. Poutine. Poutine.

7. Hang out with friends and family, of course!


If you are in Canada, I hope to see you in a few day's time (12 days and counting!) Make sure to warm the place up for us, as we have grown soft from our time on the Mediterranean coast!